From Nouveau To Cru, Gamay Is King Of The Grapes In Beaujolais

Wines

I can think of no other wine region that shows such singular devotion to a grape variety as Beaujolais does to the gamay grape. Nearly 98 percent of all vineyards in the Beaujolais grow the gamay, a grape which produces a wine that is light purple, medium-bodied with aromas and tastes like a very intense grape or fruit juice.

Gamay is thought to have originated just north of the Beaujolais in the Cote d`Or, those low flung hills which make up the bulk of Burgundian vineyards, near Chassagne-Montrachet. There are records showing that ``Gamet`` was very prolific in the Cote d`Or during the 14th Century. In 1395 Phillip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, exiled the gamay grape, declaring it a ``disloyal plant.`` Pushed south in favor of the more finicky pinot noir, which produces a more elegant and long-lived red, the gamay found an agreeable home in the Beaujolais.

A good part of the charm of the gamay as interpreted in Beaujolais is due to the widely practiced process of vinification called maceration carbonique. The grapes are fermented whole, as opposed to the typical process of crushing grapes before fermentation. This special fermentation, quicker than standard fermentation, takes between three--for the nouveau wines--and eight days. Carbonic maceration produces a deeply colorful wine because of the intense grape skin contact and fruity, lively tastes with little tannin.

The minimum tannins, the component in red wine that causes a raspy dryness in the mouth, give beaujolais its drinkability. It goes down easily, like grape juice.

The world knows Beaujolais best by the celebration of the nouveau, the new wines of the harvest. Each year a portion of the wine is earmarked for nouveau. It is quickly vinified and bottled and released the third Thursday in November, a scant half-dozen weeks or so after the harvest.

Nouveau comes from the grapes grown in the Bas-Beaujolais where clay soil predominates and the gamay vines produce wines lacking the finesse and breeding found in the vineyards to the north. But nouveau is ``merely for fun,`` according to Henri de Rambuteau, president of Compagnons de Beaujolais, a winegrowers association.

From Beaujolais to the rest of the world, the race is to see which restaurateur or retailer can claim the first bottles. The rage for nouveau has spawned countless imitators across the globe from the vineyards of Italy to Australia. None can match the original for marketing savvy and profits galore which have contributed considerably to the well-being and feeding of the Beaujolais.

After the nouveau hoopla fades, the serious work continues in the cellars. The finest Beaujolais is produced from the grapes grown on the rolling hillsides of the Haut-Beaujolais, the northern area of the region. In the villages earning the designation beaujolais-villages and the nine crus, wines capable of maturing into reds of elegance and finesse are made.